The Senate passed a bill with a majority vote on Monday against the controversial clause in the electoral reforms law that paved way for deposed PM Nawaz Sharif to become the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) again.

Shibli Faraz of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) presented the bill, Express News reported. He told the Senate that the clause, 203 (1), had allowed a person disqualified by the court from holding a public office to become a political party’s office-bearer.

He added that the clause made a mockery of the court’s verdict and so the bill presented against it should by passed by the upper house of the parliament.

Way paved for Sharif to head PML-N again

Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid opposed the bill, asserting that the opposition was taking an unconstitutional step.

Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani then sought a vote on the introduction of the bill. The opposition managed to bag 46 votes in favour of the bill against the treasury’s 21 against it. Later it was passed with a majority vote.

The Pakistan People’s Party, the PTI, the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid voted in favour of the bill.

Last month, the opposition parties in the Senate despite their combined had been unable to the stop the passage of the Elections Bill 2017.

Among the new laws introduced was an amendment to Section 5 of the PPO. The amendment allows every citizen who is not a government servant to form a political party or hold any office of a political party.

Introduced during Musharraf’s era, PPO Section 5 (1) says that every citizen, not being in the service of Pakistan, has the right to form or be a member of a political party or be otherwise associated with a political party or take part in political activities or be elected as an office-bearer of a political party.

But the clause currently has a proviso which reads “Provided that a person shall not be appointed or serve as an office-bearer of a political party if he is not qualified to be, or is disqualified from being, elected or chosen as a member of Parliament under Article 63 of the Constitution…or under any other law for the time being in force”.

Major reforms approved in Elections Bill 2017

That clause has disappeared in the bill. When the bill was passed in the National Assembly, it went unnoticed.

It was only during voting on the bill in the Senate that leader of the opposition Aitzaz Ahsan brought the development to the notice of the house and proposed an amendment in the relevant law passed by the National Assembly.

Ahsan proposed an amendment to clause 203 (1) of the new election laws with a new proviso stating: “provided that the person shall not be appointed or serve as an office-bearer of a political party if he is not qualified to be, or is disqualified from being, elected or chosen as a member of the parliament under any law for the time being in force”.

Law minister Zahid Hamid opposed the amendment, which led to the chairman calling a vote count. To the opposition’s surprise, Ahsan was outvoted by one vote, with 37 for and 38 against, despite the government’s numerical inferiority.

Rejection of Ahsan’s proposed amendment brought jubilation in treasury benches who congratulated each other for their success.

The post Senate passes bill against disqualified person heading political party appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News | Senate passes bill against disqualified person heading political party

KARACHI: After a three-day winning streak, the KSE-100 Index was back to its losing ways and plunged over 600 points to fall below the 41,500 level.

Political uncertainty and profit-taking were to be blamed with the cement sector dampening mood further.

At close, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index registered a decrease of 604.35 points or 1.44% to finish at 41,483.54.

Elixir Securities, in its report, stated Pakistan equities snapped three-day gains to close lower on profit-taking that dragged benchmark KSE-100 Index to below 41,500 level, down 1.4%.

“The market opened and traded sideways for a brief period before KSE-100 Index succumbed to reported selling, both from local and foreign institutional investors,” stated Elixir.

Steel scrips grabbed attention in the morning where specifically long-steel producers such as Amreli Steels (ASTL PA +5%) and Mughal Steel (MUGHAL PA +5%) opened limit up on anti-dumping duty notification by the National Tariff Commission.

Weekly review: KSE-100 gains 5.62% as stocks stage massive recovery

Later, cements led declines as investors booked profits after the recent gains that, notably, pushed up DG Khan Cement (DGKC PA -5%) by over 19% and Lucky Cement (LUCK PA -4.4%) by over 12%.

Meanwhile, earnings announced during the day by Pioneer Cement (PIOC PA -5%) disappointed investors and propelled the stock to hit limit down.

Among the worst performers, oils stood second in line with all names seeing a red finish despite an increase in crude prices over the weekend. Overall, mainboard names fetched limited Institutional interest while second and third tier names also saw limited activity as retail investors traded cautiously on start of futures rollover week.

“[We] expect flows both from locals and foreigners to guide market direction. Ongoing earnings season will keep investors interest intact in select names, however, activity in wider market may remain low as retail investors trade cautiously during futures rollover week,” the report added.

JS Global analyst Maaz Mulla said the KSE-100 index witnessed a choppy session, hitting an intra-day low of 674 points.

Market watch: Positive streak continues as index rises past 42,000

“The divergent trend in the trading sessions can be attributed to political uncertainty in the country,” he observed.

Selling pressure was seen in the cement sector as investors booked profit after rally witnessed at the end of last week. Major laggards of the mentioned sector were DGKC (-5%), CHCC (-4.86%), LUCK (-4.39%) and KOHC (-4.28%). PIOC (-5%) from the cement sector announced its 1QFY18 result, where the company posted an EPS of Rs1.84.

EFOODS (+3.91%) from the food sector announced its result for 9M2017, where the company posted earnings of Rs0.50/share. A rally was seen in the steel sector where ASTL (+5%), MUGHAL (+5%), CSAP (+1.34%) and DSL (+1.48%) were the major gainers of the mentioned sector.

“Moving forward, we believe rollover week will have limited upside on certain stocks and participation is also expected to remain low. Investors are recommended to trade in main board stocks and take long term positions in the same to benefit from undervalued stock prices,” the analyst added.

Market watch: Stock market blossoms on positive investor sentiment

Overall, trading volumes fell to 153 million shares compared with Friday’s tally of 261 million.

Shares of 380 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 101 stocks closed higher, 257 declined while 22 remained unchanged. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs8.03 billion.

Dost Steels was the volume leader with 19.6 million shares, gaining Rs0.20 to close at Rs13.73. It was followed by Azgard Nine with 15.3 million shares, gaining Rs0.69 to close at Rs14.52 and Sui North Gas with 9.8 million shares, gaining Rs4.29 to close at Rs126.19.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers of Rs11 million during the trading session, according to data compiled by the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited.

The post Market watch: KSE-100 falls over 600 points as positive streak ends appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News | Market watch: KSE-100 falls over 600 points as positive streak ends

West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle appeared in a Sydney court on Monday and vehemently denied ever exposing his genitals to a masseuse in a dressing room, per The Guardian.

The hard-hitting batsman told the judge he was distraught when the Age newspaper accused him of the lewd act, which he says never happened and was completely baseless.

During the court proceedings of his defamation lawsuit against Fairfax Media, Gayle claimed not only was the news untrue, he never met a female masseuse on the day the incident is alleged to have happened.

More importantly, he denies ever exposing himself to anyone that day.

The stories in question were run by Fairfax-owned Age in January last year, and since then, Gayle claims his reputation has been in tatters and his partner upset.

“I felt devastated,” he told the court, adding that that unproven allegations has hurt him as much as anything in his life.

When Fairfax’s attorney asked him if he had invited masseuse Leanne Russell ‘to come and touch me up baby,’ Gayle instantly shot back: “Never!”

He did admit that the said masseuse had massaged him once or twice but said that he had discontinued her services on account of her not being good at her job.

The trial will continue on Tuesday.

The post Gayle denies exposing genitalia to masseuse appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News | Gayle denies exposing genitalia to masseuse